


Directly You Will Be Directed in the Right Direction

by Giddygeek



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Imported, M/M, Post Episode AU: s05e19 Vegas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-07-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 03:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2052183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giddygeek/pseuds/Giddygeek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, while working at Area 51 under the auspices of needful scientific investigation but, if he were just being honest with himself, poking around to see what would happen, Dr. Rodney McKay, Ph.D, Ph.D, accidently broke the universe. </p><p>"Ah," Rodney said to himself, when the wormhole spat him out at his own feet. "I thought I'd see you here."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Directly You Will Be Directed in the Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Merry and Speranza for beta!

One day, while working at Area 51 under the auspices of needful scientific investigation but, if he were just being honest with himself, poking around to see what would happen, Dr. Rodney McKay, Ph.D, Ph.D, accidently broke the universe.

"Ah," Rodney said to himself, when the wormhole spat him out at his own feet. "I thought I'd see you here."

~

The alternate version of himself was not a man who had mastered self-control the way Rodney had. He was a little wild, a lot fractious, and thoroughly brilliant, in a way that Rodney could almost, but not quite, remember being.

"I have met other versions of me who were a _lot_ easier to work with!" the alternate Rodney said, pointing an accusing finger. "You -- you're a _bureaucrat_."

"I assure you that I'm much more than just an empty suit," Rodney said. He kept his temper carefully controlled, as always. Of course, this meant that he only shouted a little, and used the word 'idiot' at a rate of about once every few sentences, but since his alternate seemed to be using it almost as punctuation, Rodney felt he probably looked calm, sane and reasonable in comparison.

"Yes, yes!" his alternate said, and that pointing finger came dangerously close to poking Rodney in the chest; if it had made contact, Rodney would have felt obligated to break it, but neither of them had been quite willing, as yet, to come into physical contact with each other. It was less, Rodney thought, fear that they would destroy a cascade of universes, and more an instant and immoderate hatred.

His alternate looked triumphant. "You're a suit full of, of _hot air_!"

Rodney raised his eyebrows. "If I hadn't pointed out your miscalculation -- your mistake, _Rodney_ \-- we'd all be returning to the surface of this planet as tiny little flakes of ash right now," he said, working to keep his tone even and cool; as a result, he sounded almost dangerously silky, which made his alternate's eyes flash with rage. "Do you really think that in consideration of this very major point, it's very wise to continue talking to me this way?"

"Um, let me think, okay, yes," his alternate said, and Rodney lost just enough of his grip on his temper to rocket to his feet and come around the table like vengeful Death, while his alternate yelped and booked it around the other side to avoid him.

They might have gone on like that a while, but Zelenka looked up from his work and blinked at the two of them, one stalking, one fleeing. He sighed. He took off his glasses, closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. "You realize," he said, accented thickened with aggravation and impatience, "I have solved problem?"

Rodney stopped trying to get his hands around his alternate's neck. The other Rodney stopped trying to escape. They looked at each other, and as one, they turned on Zelenka.

"You can get me home?" Rodney demanded. "In one piece?"

"Or whatever," his alternate said. He waved a hand at Rodney as if to indicate just how optional it was that Rodney make it home _alive_. Rodney glared at him, and the other Rodney glared back while edging further around the table. "Oh, what. No one here's a _miracle worker_ , suit. Take what you can get!"

Zelenka cursed quietly, and then said, "Yes, Dr. McKay; home in one piece. Though why I bother with these minor considerations, I am not sure." He bustled out the door, laptop in hand, muttering under his breath; _this_ universe's Rodney probably didn't understand, wouldn't have taken the time to learn his 2IC's native tongue, but Rodney knew more than enough to translate _thank all the gods, or I'd have killed you both, and perhaps found a way to travel through the wormholes myself and kill all the others while I was at it, for the good of us all_ \--

Rodney had to admit, as he preceded the alternate Rodney through the door, barely avoiding a fight for supremacy and badly jostled shoulders by dint of a bared-tooth smile, that he fully sympathized.

~

Colonel Sheppard came to talk to him before he traveled home; found Rodney standing at a balcony, looking out over the sea and the city. Both were extraordinarily beautiful. And, Rodney thought, as he turned to glance at the colonel, there was something there, too; something awkward and interesting and attractive.

It was a good thing he was going home soon. Jennifer would kill him.

"Got everything you need?" Colonel Sheppard asked. He leaned against the railing, just beyond Rodney's reach, and looked out. The wind tousled his hair and the sunset gilded his features.

"Mostly," Rodney said. When the colonel raised an eyebrow at him, he smiled a little, waved his hand briskly. "As much as anyone ever does, I suppose."

"I meant the coordinates of the city, that sort of thing," Colonel Sheppard said. His voice was mild, a husky drawl, but the look he gave Rodney was sharp. Rodney felt the pull of -- something about him; his intelligence, maybe, or the way his hips cocked. It was almost an adrenaline rush, as if the challenge Colonel Sheppard presented so casually was one that Rodney was fully prepared to take on, though he knew full well he could lose. Rodney hadn't felt like that in so long that he almost wasn't certain he ever _had_.

"I have what I need," he said, leaning closer to the colonel, though still not close enough to touch. "I also have a plan."

Colonel Sheppard eyed him, casually crossed his legs at the ankle, a move that put him a little farther out of Rodney's reach. "A plan."

Rodney couldn't help smiling at him. _Such_ a challenge. "Indeed. I'm going to go home, and I'm going to find this city, and then I'm going to find _you_ , Colonel Sheppard. No matter where you might be hiding."

Colonel Sheppard tilted his head a little, looking at Rodney like he could see right through him; through all his control and the way he'd mastered his own brilliance, through his suit and his ring and all the rest of his defenses. As if he could see that Rodney was more like this universe's Rodney, _his_ Rodney, as the colonel had so casually claimed him, than Rodney would like to admit.

As if he liked that.

He uncrossed his ankles and somehow managed to both stand straighter and seem to slouch into Rodney's space, a liquid move that didn't cover all the distance between them, but covered _enough_. He was lean, and a little taller than Rodney, and he smelled good. He leaned in, looking right into Rodney's eyes, and said, "I never could hide from you, McKay," which sounded all at once like a threat, a promise, and a joke.

Then Colonel Sheppard smiled. "Good luck."

~

When Detective Sheppard opened his eyes and blinked against the harsh lights of the installation's infirmary, Dr. Rodney McKay, Ph.D, Ph.D, was sitting in a chair beside his bed, waiting for him.

Sheppard looked at him for a long moment before shifting, clearing his throat a little, making a face at the dry croak of sound. Rodney stood and helped him get a drink, bracing the back of his neck in one careful hand and guided the straw with the other. He waited while Sheppard slowly sipped at cool water and watched Rodney's face like he was waiting for Rodney to reveal the secrets of the universe. If Sheppard noticed that the hand which held the straw bore no ring, he didn't acknowledge it.

"What happened?" Sheppard rasped, when Rodney carefully lowered his head back to the pillow. He was frowning up at Rodney, awake and aware, sharp even through the drugs pumped into his system, a worthy challenge even with this difficult, shadowed life of his.

Rodney reached out to touch Sheppard's stubbled cheek, took in the way Sheppard let him, eyes wary but head tipping into his palm just a little; acknowledgment, maybe. Rodney felt his heart race the way it had once before, on a high balcony in a distant city, on a strange world in a distant universe. The look in Sheppard's eyes changed as he watched Rodney's face, went surprised, then wide and dark with understanding; not easy acceptance but something even better.

It had taken all of Rodney's genius, and a little extra _something_ that he'd buried so deep he'd almost forgotten how to use it, to get this man to this point. He'd been looking for a challenge and he'd anticipated a fight when he'd figured out that this universe's Sheppard was denying his true nature. He just hadn't expected that Sheppard would return the favor, bringing to light a part of Rodney that had briefly sparked when he'd met his alternate and the colonel. He'd been hoping for an echo of that feeling, at most.

He'd gotten so much more.

Rodney smiled, and said, "I found you."


End file.
